Why Second Lady Usha Vance’s Pregnancy Is Historic

Usha Vance, the wife of Vice President J.D. Vance, has already made history in a few ways: she’s the first person of color to become Second Lady and the youngest Second Lady since the Truman Administration. She may also soon be the first sitting Second Lady in modern history to bear a child in over 150 years.

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“We’re very excited to share the news that Usha is pregnant with our fourth child, a boy,” the Vice President shared on social media Tuesday. “Usha and the baby are doing well, and we are all looking forward to welcoming him in late July.”

In the message, the Vice President thanked military doctors for “[taking] excellent care of our family” and staff members “who do so much to ensure that we can serve the country while enjoying a wonderful life with our children.”

J.D., 41, and Usha, 40, met at Yale University and married in 2014. They have three kids: Ewan, 8; Vivek, 5; and Mirabel Rose, 4.

Before Usha Vance, the only sitting Second Lady in modern history to give birth was President Ulysses S. Grant’s Vice President Schuyler Colfax’s wife Ellen, who had a son in 1870; birth records before then are unclear.

The Trump White House extended its congratulatory message to the Vances, and in a post on X, called itself “The most pro-family administration in history!”

Vance, in particular, is an outspoken pro-natalist. He has sounded the alarm on declining birthrates, branded Democrats as “childless cat ladies” and “anti-family and anti-child,” and called Americans’ lack of desire to have children as a “civilizational crisis.”

“I want more babies in the United States of America,” Vance said at a March for Life rally last year. “I want more happy children in our country, and I want beautiful young men and women who are eager to welcome them into the world and eager to raise them.”

Correction:
Usha Vance would be the first sitting Second Lady to bear a child in over 150 years, not ever.